Enlightened life here in our Earthly reality is an open question isn't it? What if you were enlightened and physical reality around you was still the same? What would have changed? How would your life be the same were you to recover some of your inate primal awareness? Aren't all states of consciousness available in the here and now? What do we need to do that we aren't doing in order for life to be different?

As self-conscious systems we are capable of experiencing pain, both physical and emotional, frequently here in our daily lives. Though concisousness has great reward in and of itself, it may not make daily life any less, "carry wood and chop water...".    ; )

Cosmic consciousness, awakeness, enlightenment, whatever you wish to call it is so different form what we know on a day to day basis, involved in all our business, that we're perhaps inclined to judge an enlightend state as a "hallucination" when some of us get a flash of satori or profound insight or simply deep deep joy.

Enlightenment is said by many to be a sublime void. No memories, no future, only a calm and confident trust in the bliss of the present moment. Obviously this doesn't easily fit into or synchronize easily into our ordinary "business" of keeping our bodies alive here on Earth doing our day to day grind.

Here's an attempt at a brief answer to your question :

Perhaps what would be different in being in an enlightened state would mean no mental static, a complete understanding of our limitlessness and the interconnection of all "things" here in our day to day dealings with our local reality and all our interactions with the other entities with whom we share this reality.

Remaining aware, prolonging our conscious state and seeing where it leads us. Perhaps it really is that simple. Words fall short when attempting to define what is by nature beyond definition.

Cheers!

An odd thought came to me today :
The planet no longer belongs to people.
People have however always belonged to the planet.

When will greed and the fear of not having enough end?
When will those of us who truly do not have anything simply get some (a very small portion) of the natural riches that are just as much theirs as those who exploit those same riches?

We as a race somehow believe(d) that "to consume" is (was) the correct attitude.
Where did that stupid idea come from ?
The industrial era is coming to and end, like it or not.
Consumtion for consumtion sake is an idea that has had its day.
Perhaps some of us will help others see that a spiritual era is about to begin.

But look at the bright side - some of us will still have cars!
I think it was Aldous Huxley who said,
"God made man in His image and man made the automobile."

Perhaps we'll die of lack clean of air, water and food if we continue to be so stupid.
Either that or become radioactive... Which seems to be the what the universe does when enough "density" takes place.

This small planet belongs to every being who has lived is living or will live on it.
The resources here are limited and even if technology can do many things,
it can't change lead into gold. At least not yet.

Hello All,

I found a spot on the net with a plethora of interesting and concise unbiased information on topics such as :

The Dynamic Unity of Reality
Metaphysics & Physical Reality
Mathematics, Mathematical Physics, Truth and Reality
Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity
Quantum Physics: Quantum Theory / Wave Mechanics
Love of Wisdom from Truth & Reality
The Metaphysics of Space and the Wave Structure of Matter
Cosmology
History of World Religions. On Morality, Free Will & God

and more...

You'll find the site dealing with these topics here :
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/

I hope that you'll find the information as useful and well presented as I have.
Cheers !

Certain "common" concepts which I believe to be misconceptions :

1. - that the idea of matter or energy are void of any inherent being and lifeless.
2. - that matter and energy be treated with great reverence because of misconceptions.
3. - the idea that the world around us is an "illusion".
4. - that life on this this planet is a result derived from  "divine plans".

Possible arguments as solutions :
1 - Everything comes from the same place. We tend to have the arrogance to think that we come from a cold and "dead" universe and we're a special instance. Every particle in every atom is alive. Things get more complex as you build up from there to atoms, molecules and more complex compounds.
2 - Since everything comes from the same place; it's plain silly to honor certain material things above others. Honor all creation, it's not a mistake. Be humble...
3 - The reality around us isn't an illusion because - if something is painful - that pain isn't an illusion. the same goes for the beauty or pleasure perceived of course.
4 - We reproduce without the least concern of consequences - we kill one another, and sometimes we do that in the name of God and defense of our conceptions and ideas or worse, for the sake of plain old dogma. Let me ask - Where's the Divine plan in that?

Conclusion :
This reality we live in isn't simply just a "grouping of ideas".
Even profound understanding has a limit of usefulness in this world.
We stand between the heavens and the Earth, we are half God and half animal.
Our consciousness is what makes us different - let us all use that consciousness.

There...

Science & Religion

The two fields of knowledge... again ...

Which of these two has (what we all want in this information age...) the freshest knowledge?

In my humble opinion, should a set of beliefs (or for that matter a complete belief system, science or ortherwise) not be capable of corrections from experience and new leaning and to compound matters not be able to withstand the test of repeatability, then it's totally useless.

I've read some (mumbo-jumbo from) psychics who take themselves quite seriously, they'd like to think that science should simply acknowledge some of the "truths" (for me truth is like everything else... it changes...) from mystics of old.

Wouldn't it be smarter (and probably safer too) if these same "mystics" would take up the same tests that science has to put forward to earn its place in our reality ?

All this going round in circles with reasoning that hold itself up (mostly because failure and contempt of others somewhere seem to be "proof " of  "spiritual" worth!) until put to the test of reality (scientifically reproducatble tests) this "reasoning" just simply fails outright. Sorry.

<- see what George Carlin has to say on the subject...
I like that... Some simple common sense!
OK - I'll stop watching George Carlin now.
Joe Pesci is outside and he wants to come in...
What's he's doing with a baseball bat ?

Love and consciousness to all !!!

Could there be a credible bridge between the matter we are composed of and the spirit, which is in turn an incorporeal being, which seems to be what drives us? What brought you here to this page? (ie. your physical body pressed keys and clicked the a pointing device... made of matter and this process this driven by your spirit or no?)

The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin word "spiritus", which means "Breath". In other cultures you'll find words with a similar concept such as Chi or Qi, a concept use in Tai-Chi and in Japan Ki, which is a very real force used in martial arts such as Aikido, other further western cultures use names such as Prana in India and Pneuma in Greek. These are rather esoteric concepts however. It seems that the end result is an energy of some sort.

As for matter, it is the substance of which physical objects are composed. There are still many ongoing questions in various fields such as, "What are atoms composed of?", from there we'll find protons, electrons and neutrons. It is believed that Protons in turn are composed of Quarks and that Electrons are composed of Leptons.

From there, Quarks and Leptons are thought to be composed of other sub-particles and so forth. It seems that these sub-particles are sometimes mass and sometimes energy. Now we come full circle to energy.

Thus, spirit and matter are ultimately composed of energy. What is the place of consciousness in relation to energy and matter then?